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Private Text

Private Text is a feature that allows you to type a hidden message inside a post and to specify one or more users that will be able to see this message. Note that GMs and readers are able to see all private text in their games.

Here's how it works for a single recipient.

[private=username]Your private message, which may include anything from text to hyperlinks, images, dice rolls - anything you can place in a post regularly will only be seen by the specified users![/private]

Adding more recipients is easy!

[private=username;username2;username3]By placing a semicolon [;] or a comma [,] between each name, you can allow as many people as you wish to view your secret message.[/private]

Note that in this situation usernames are not case sensitive, but proper spelling is still essential.

In case you don't want to type the whole tags every time you use the Private Text, you can use the following icon (only located above advanced post area):

Even though Private Text is un-readable by people other than its recipients, you might tip off onlookers to the presence of Private Text by un-savvy formatting. Here are some tips on how to ensure that nobody knows you're placing Private Text in your posts:

Don't make a post with only secret text because everybody would see a blank post, leading to the obvious conclusion that you're hiding private text there.

Don't make a line break (by pressing enter to skip to the next line) before and after your private text tags. The formatting takes care of that for you, and the extra blank lines are give-aways.

Make sure you type the tags correctly and preview your post before submitting it. Incorrectly typing the tag syntax might cause you to accidentally reveal everything, so be careful and preview often!

Exclusionary Private Tags

While regular private tags allow you to include a list of people, this alternative form allows you to exclude people from seeing certain content. Usage is the same as private tags, except that the tagname is changed to 'privatefrom'

[privatefrom=usernames]foobar[/privatefrom]

OOC Tags

OOC Tags

OOC Tags (Out Of Character Tags) are available to help players and GMs to add pop-up OOC comments and other messages into their posts without disrupting the flow of the game. If you are one of those people like clean game posts, then this feature was created for you.

What does it do?
OOC Tags work in a similar way as Roll Tags in that they enable you to attach a message to text in form of a pop-up box.

How can it be done?
The structure of the OOC command is as follows:

[ooc=Text]OOC message[/ooc]

ooc – An OOC Tag consists of an opening tag placed in front of your OOC text and closing tags (which always include a slash) placed after it.

Note: There may not be any spaces between the tags and dice roll nor breakers in the word ooc

Text – This is where you enter the text that will be visible in the main body of your post. It will allow linking to the popup OOC message, as shown in the screenshot below.

OOC message – Here is where you type in your message that will be available as a popup for GMs and other players to see.

The OOC message can include more than just text -- images, dice rolls, and other sorts of formatting can be used.

Let’s take a look at an example:

John smiles at the peaceful troll named [ooc=Bob]Hey, you really like using this name in your games, right?[/ooc] and lowers his sword.

In post, the above will take this form:

To see the OOC message, all you need to do is hover your mouse over the underlined (linked) text.

Rules Data Tags

Rules data tags are a simple way of including information about a particular game rule directly into your posts. Right now, the data tags support information from the D&D 3.5 System Reference Document, particularly about monsters, spells, conditions, and psionic powers. This information can be added to your post directly, as a popup, or in a spoiler block.

How they Work - Summary

A data tag just needs the type of game info and the name of a particular thing to find what you want. If a name doesn't match anything, the tag will supply some suggestions to help find what you're looking for.

[srd=Type]Thing Name[/srd]

The types we currently support are: monster, monsterlong, spell, power, item, feat, skill, condition, ability, and attack. Monsterlong is like monster, except that it includes an explanation of a monster's special abilities in addition to the basic statistics. Attack is for the special attacks, such as Charge, Bull Rush, etc. For the purpose of simplifying the types, Delay and Ready actions are also included in attack. Ability is for special abilities, such as Rake, Improved Grab, Spell Immunity, etc.

Example:
You Type[srd=feat]Cleave[/srd]

You Get

Cleave [General]

Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack.

Benefit: If you deal a creature enough damage to make it drop (typically by dropping it to below 0 hit points or killing it), you get an immediate, extra melee attack against another creature within reach. You cannot take a 5-foot step before making this extra attack. The extra attack is with the same weapon and at the same bonus as the attack that dropped the previous creature. You can use this ability once per round.

Special: A fighter may select Cleave as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Additional Display Options

You can also choose different ways of displaying the game rule data in your post. You can accomplish this by adding ;ooc or ;sp after the name part of your tag.

[srd=Type;Option]Thing Name[/srd]

OOC makes the data a popup that only appears when one puts the cursor over the name of the data.

Example: [srd=item;ooc]jumping[/srd] produces...

Jumping: This ring continually allows the wearer to leap about, providing a +5 competence bonus on all his Jump checks.

[table=] [/table] -- These main tags must be included at the start and end of every table.

Number of Columns -- This is where you decide how many columns your table will have by putting in that number here. Whole numbers (integers) only.

Number of Rows -- This is where you decide how many rows your table will have. Again, just insert that number here.

;List Numbering -- This part is optional. If you insert ";1" here, the first column of every row except the first will be numbered. If you select this option, you do not need to fill in those cells. This is like a numbered list, as it goes 1...2...3... etc.

Your "R" Tags -- This is where you will be using "R" tags to fill in the contents of the table. The "R" tags are described below.

Now, on to the "R" tags themselves. The "R" tags are used to describe each of the cells in the table. Each "R" tag fills in exactly one cell of the table. You pick what cell is being filled in by specifying which column and row the "r" tag is targeting.

[R=Column Number,Row Number] Content of the Cell

[R= ... ] -- This tag must be included at the start of each cell-description. No end-tags are needed.

Column Number -- The column number of the cell you want to fill in.

Row Number -- The row number of the cell you want to fill in.

Content of the Cell -- This is where you get to actually fill in what this cell in the table says. You can put any text, tags, and so forth into this part except another table. How much you put in here determines the size of the cell.

As mentioned above, no "end tag" (such as [/R]) is necessary. To fill more than one cell, just add another "R" tag using the same syntax, but a different column and row number. You can only have as many "R" tags as there are cells in your table (i.e. the number of columns times the number of rows). The "R" tags do not have to be in any particular order, but they must be in-between the [table] and the [/table] tags.

Special Note: Because this feature is still in development, you can only insert one table per post. When the tags are absolutely complete, this limitation will be removed. Furthermore, tables are not functional in user signatures.

Examples

Sample Table A
This table is very small and simple, resembling a list.

The Code (What you type)

[table=1,2]
[R=1,1] This is the content of the cell in the first column and the first row of the table.
[R=1,2] This is the content of the cell in the first column and the second row of the table.
[/table]

Character Stat Block Tags

Stat blocks are another way of connecting character sheets to your posts. Simply put, the stat block is a section at the bottom of the character sheets which can be viewed and edited in your posts with the statblock tag.

If you need to find out to make and edit a character sheet in the first place, please read the Character Sheets Help Article. This feature works only for characters that have been applied to the given game.

The Syntax

[STATBLOCK=Option]Text[/STATBLOCK]

Shorthand syntax

[sb=Option]Text[/sb]

STATBLOCK: This is the basic tag, and is always necessary. You can shorten this to SB if you want to abbreviate.

Text: Is used in different ways, depending on the option chosen. Typically, text items are entered in the format of "Number:StatName". These items are separated by semi-colons (;).

Option: There are three options: show, modify, and remove.

Free: Simply puts the current contents of the statblock into the post.

Show: As free, except wraps the statblock in fieldset tags

sp: As free, except wraps the statblock in spoiler tags

Modify: Changes the contents of the statblock to match whatever is in the text section, and then displays the statblock.

Remove: Removes the specified text item from the statblock.

But What is it Good For?

The statblock is useful for when you want to be able to keep track of something along the course of the game which is either important to know on command or may change. For combat-oriented games, this might mean the character's attack and defensive stats, their saving throws, and so forth. For games with expendable resources (like power points, wand charges, action points, etcetera), the statblock is a quick way of adding or removing these resources.

Also, you can always edit your statblock directly when in/at the character sheet itself. You'll find it in the D&D 3.5-template sheets, directly above the "Notes" section. This is handy when you need to reference statistics from other parts of the sheet.

Dealing with Multiple Characters (GMs and Players)

If you are a player with multiple characters, or a GM (who has the ability to view and modify stat blocks for all characters that have been applied to that game), there is a simple system for selecting which characters to view. Character sheets in a game are given a number based on the order of their Sheet ID values.

For example, if there are two character sheets in a game and their Sheet IDs are 4576 and 5033, then "1" would refer to 4576 and "2" to 5033. To view a specific character, specify that number in the statblock tag as follows:

[STATBLOCK=Option;CharacterNumber]Text[/STATBLOCK]

Example: [STATBLOCK=1;show][/STATBLOCK] would show the statblock for the character with the lowest Sheet ID number.

If you are a GM, the default is to show all statblocks at once. If you want to show more than one character at once, you can put a list of these numbers, separated by commas, into the CharacterNumber field.

Example: [STATBLOCK=1,2,4,7;show][/STATBLOCK] would show the statblocks for the selected characters.

Using the modify and remove options

These options cannot be used if the statblock contains bbcodes or any other formatting. It is designed for plain text statblocks which contain semi-colon separated sets of colon separated key/value pairs. It's prupose is to avoid the hassle of opening the character sheet and saving a simple change in the statblock. An example of the formatting:
AC:22;HP:34/50;Spells:7/6/5

If the statblock is formatted this way, then one or more key/value pairs can me altered without affecting the others. Using the above statblock as an example:
[STATBLOCK=modify]HP:23/50[/STATBLOCK]

will then change just the HP entry in the statblock.

A Note of Caution

After you use a [statblock=modify] or [statblock=remove] tag to adjust a statblock and save the post, immediately edit the post and either delete the tags or replace them with [statblock=show] (if still want to display the statblock). The reason for this is that other editings, viewings, or replyings-to of the modify and remove posts may cause them to be re-parsed, causing their alterations (perhaps now out-of-date and irrelevant) to take place again.

To prevent these sorts of mix-ups, simply delete or replace all of your old statblock tags with [statblock=show] right after you use them.

Noparse Tags

Noparse Tags are designed to display vBcode in its raw format. In other words, any vBCodes wrapped inside the Noparse Tags will not be processed to function, but treated as plain text. This is best used to explain how vBCode works, and to create a code that others can simply copy and paste to use.

Syntax
The command for Noparse Tags is as the following:

[NOPARSE]vBCode[/NOPARSE]

NOPARSE: This is the most important thing in the syntax. Note that, as with all vBCodes, it doesn't have to be in uppercase.

vBCode: any vBCode, such as OOC Tags, Private Text, or even Dice tags, and so on. Anything you want to be displayed without the server parsing the commands.

Examples
Code:

[B]This is a bold text.[/B]
[NOPARSE][B]This is a bold text.[/B][/NOPARSE]

Result:

This is a bold text.
[B]This is a bold text.[/B]

Language Tags ( Lang Tags )

Language tags allow both players and GMs to write speech that only players whose characters speak a certain language can read. Language Tags work in a similar way as OOC Tags in that the reader can see added information in a pop-up box. Other than OOC tags, the pop-up box is only available to players who have a character sheet added to the game that lists a certain language in the languages section. GMs should keep in mind that anyone can create a language tag, so it is entirely possible for a forgetful player to "speak" in a language his character doesn't know. It is important to note that you cannot include quotes inside of a language tag, but must be outside of the tag itself.

The basic structure of the lang command is as follows:

[lang=Language]Speech[/lang]

lang – A Lang Tag consists of an opening tag placed in front of your text and closing tags (which always include a slash) placed after it.

Language – The language the character is speaking.

Note: It does not matter whether you use a capital for the language or how it is written on the character sheet, but the way you write it will be how it is displayed in your post.

Speech - Here is where you type what the character is saying. It will be displayed in a pop-up box just like an ooc message.

Using this structure causes the forum to display "something in Language" in the same way as an ooc tag (underlined, with a pop-up box that contains the speech) or "something in a foreign language" as regular text. It is possible to replace these defaults as follows:

[lang=Language]Optional Text; Speech[/lang]

Optional Text – Here is where you type the text that replaces the default.

Note: using quotation marks in either the optional text or the speech causes "&quot" to be displayed instead of your actual text.

Speech - As before, here is where you type what the character is saying. It will be preceded in the pop-up box by the language that is being used.

Note: If you don't leave a space between the semi-colon and your speech, the speech will stick to "Language:" in the pop-up box.

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

The drow priestess addresses Hannah: "[lang=undercommon]Why is it that such a powerful sorceress travels with only three servants?[/lang]"

For players without undercommon on their character sheet: The drow priestess addresses Hannah: "something in a foreign language"

For players with undercommon on their character sheet: The drow priestess addresses Hannah: "something in undercommon"

Pop-up: Why is it that such a powerful sorceress travels with only three servants?

Hannah hesitates for a moment, but then hisses to Bjornin: "[lang=Dwarven]Dwarlin bin torzun, Bjornin!; Translate for me, Bjornin![/lang]"

Hannah hesitates for a moment, but then hisses to Bjornin: "Dwarlin bin torzun, Bjornin!"

Pop-up for players with dwarven on their character sheets: Dwarven: Translate for me, Bjornin!